65 Barracuda daily driver

[65barracudaLA]

So I installed the oil pressure gauge in the glove box, because I don't want to look it all the time. As you can see it takes a moment and then has pretty good oil pressure?! I drove around a bit and it dropped to 40 when idling in D and went up to about 65 when driving a bit faster.

So there's just no oil pressure in the beginning as the oil light had already indicated. Tomorrow I'm supposed to get the lifters delivered, but it'll probably take until Thanksgiving until I can pull the intake and install the lifters.

 

[66fyssh]

No problem with that oil pressure.

When at operating temperature mine runs 20ish at idle and just under 60 at 55 mph. They all take a second or two to work up to full reading.

 

[JDMopar]

That's good oil pressure! I think it just your tickers liftin!!

 

[65barracudaLA]

These are some fine looking lifters... Too bad I'm gonna be way too busy with work to install them before Thanksgiving.

 

[65barracudaLA]

Happy Thanksgiving!

Disassembly is done.

Even the first round of gasket scraping is done as well.

There had been a small oil leak that initially I thought was coming from the valve covers, distributor or oil sender, but it appears I hadn't fully sealed the rear china wall. The Edelbrock intake instructions said to use RTV instead of the cork gaskets, but I guess it wasn't enough RTV. I had suspected something like that so it's a good thing that I pulled the intake anyways. I also want to block the heat crossover this time around.

All this took a bit longer than I anticipated, so the lifters will probably have to wait until Saturday, but I feel like I got a lot done and and now deserve to eat a lot of turkey and other yummy things.

Cheers!

 

[66fyssh]

Happy Thanksgiving! You really got at it!

 

[JDMopar]

Lookin good! Hope you've had a good Thanksgiving. You may already have it in hand, but if not, Fel Pro 1243 is the gasket you need to do the heat block off. It's the one for the small port 273/318 heads and there is no hole in it for the heat crossover. I added some insurance with mine and cut a piece of rectangular sheet metal a little bigger than the crossover holes, and put them between the heads and gasket with some red RTV. Keep up the good work!

 

[Richard Sweet]

You might also want to consider removing the pan on the bottom of the intake manifold, if there is one. I figured it's not needed (with the crossover blocked) and would allow some heating to the intake manifold from the crankcase. That's what I've done on my '65 273 and it appears to work well in our warm, S. CA climate. Carb adjustment and timing remain important too.
Happy Thanksgiving.

 

[sireland67]

Check every one of those lifters really good.
I had one go bad on my 340 after break in, it never pumped up after a cold start one day, sent a pushrod thru the rocker arm.

 

[65barracudaLA]

So I guess this is a collapsed lifter?! Just using a pushrod (which I guess is magnetic) and not pushing down, but pulling up:



I had a few like that of the old ones.

Heat crossover blocked off. I heard metal from a beer can will burn through, so I used the bottom of a coffee can that appeared strong enough, but also not too thick. Thanks for the tip with the red RTV @JDMopar! And yes, I got the Fel-Pro 1243 printoseal gaskets just like last time, but back then I cut a hole in them to let the heat through.

New lifters are in, pushrods and rockers are back in place. I cleaned up the intake a bit more, but then it got dark, so I decided to install the intake tomorrow.

I always wanted to try bluing on bolts so they won't rust. Came out ok, heating them over an open flame for 3 minutes and then submerging in vegetable oil ended up being the best method.

 

[JDMopar]

Wow....never knew that you could blu bolts like that. Now I gotta try it when I reseal my intake after being too conservative with the China wall RTV. Put some sealer or teflon tape on the threads of the intake bolts so oil doesn't wick up the threads and then pond up below the bolts on top of the intake. That lifter in the video sounds like it was probably the troublemaker!

 

[65barracudaLA]

This was probably one of the dumbest things I've ever done... I set down the intake on the block and forgot to take out the paper towels that I put in there to cover the lifter valley. I remembered once I had started putting the bolts in. I was able to get the first one out through the distributor hole. For the others I had to remove the rocker shaft again and attached a fuel hose to the shop vac and was able to pull them close enough so I could get them out. Luckily I had replaced the paper towels after I had scraped the old gaskets off, so there was no dirt on them.

After that I started connecting stuff again, but eventually it got dark and cold, so I'm gonna continue tomorrow. I'm also re-routing the heater hoses and the ones I got are too short, so I need to get some new ones tomorrow. @JDMopar That wasn't the only lifter like that - there were quite a few. And yeah, I put thread sealant on the bolts.

 

[sireland67]

I would not trust all the paper towels are out, stick a bore scope in the distributor hole and look.
Or just buy another intake gasket.

 

[65barracudaLA]

I would not trust all the paper towels are out, stick a bore scope in the distributor hole and look.
Or just buy another intake gasket.

I did go in there with a borescope. It's all clean now, but I wasted so much time with that. Currently just waiting for another 90 degree for the heater hose and I still need to re-connect the throttle and kickdown cables. And the fuel line. Probably something else. I'm an independent contractor and right now I'm busier than I have been all year. I wish I could work more on the car, but making money that I then can spend on the car has priority haha.

 

[65barracudaLA]

It's all back together and I fired her up tonight. There's still some ticking, but that could be an exhaust leak. I had changed the outer bolts to studs while the coolant was drained and didn't change the gasket. There also seems to be some noise coming from the fan belt. I might just take the belt off and start the car to see if it's still there. The alternator might not be perfectly in line. Probably not a bad idea to check all pulley bolts. Other than that it runs well!

Tomorrow I'll see if it still rattles on the cold start, but I doubt it...

I spent way too much time to re-routing the heater hoses and made this mount that bolts to the top of the shock. Just a few random brackets I had laying around. I cut a piece of radiator hose so it fits a little tighter.

 

[mygasser]

are you planning to round the corners off on that hose clamp/bracket? if not at some point in the future you'll regret the sharp corners, lol.
neil.

 

[sireland67]

Looks like he stuck part of a hose on the inside of it, I think it will be fine.

 

[65barracudaLA]

Looks like he stuck part of a hose on the inside of it, I think it will be fine.

I think @mygasser was possibly worried about cutting myself on the sharp edges sticking out?! I might still modify it, but I've had a heater hose blow in this car on the way from L.A. to San Francisco once and now I know that they don't like sharp edges... The bracket is supposed to help the hoses stay in place.

 

[mygasser]

I think @mygasser was possibly worried about cutting myself on the sharp edges sticking out?! I might still modify it, but I've had a heater hose blow in this car on the way from L.A. to San Francisco once and now I know that they don't like sharp edges... The bracket is supposed to help the hoses stay in place.

exactly that, it'd slice your hand/arm no problem.
neil.

 

[65barracudaLA]

Well, so there was still some ticking on cold start. I had checked the pushrods and they weren't super obviously bent, but rolling them on a piece of glass you could hear some wobbling. First I deemed them to probably be ok, but ended up getting stock replacements that I installed today. And now the ticking is even worse!! I got some Melling MPR-324 (7.5" long), which I understood was stock. They are a bit wider and that ball part is different than the old ones. I just measured one of the old ones and they might be just shy of 7.5". I'm somewhat tempted to put the old ones back, but I'm just frustrated at this point. If it's not the oil pump, oil pressure, lifters, pushrods etc - what's left? Sure, it could also be cruddy oil passages, but why did it just get worse with brand new pushrods? Might be time to take it to a shop.

Old pushrod:

 

[junkyardhero]

what's the gauge say PSI wise on a cold start?

did you ever fix that exhaust leak?

i'm sure that we've discussed it and you've checked it, but are the rocker arms the right way around?

when you had the arms off, did you check each rocker for wear? how about the tops of the valve stems, pretty even?

what oil are you running now and how long does the ticking go on for?

 

[65barracudaLA]

@junkyardhero :

what's the gauge say PSI wise on a cold start? > goes up to 60 pretty quickly (pretty much like the video on top of the page)

did you ever fix that exhaust leak? > nope, but the tick is worse now, so I doubt the exhaust leak got worse

i'm sure that we've discussed it and you've checked it, but are the rocker arms the right way around? > rocker arms notch is on the correct side, but I just read the notch needs to point down, which I'm sure it does, but I will check.

when you had the arms off, did you check each rocker for wear? how about the tops of the valve stems, pretty even? > did not specifically check the rockers for wear, but looked fine to me. Valve stems looked fine as well.

what oil are you running now and how long does the ticking go on for? > Rotella 15W40. There's a more intense ticking at cold start for 3-4 seconds, but there's also a tick when it's warmed up and idling.

 

[65barracudaLA]

Took the rocker arms off again. There was oil on them, so getting oil there should not be an issue. The orientation was correct. Noticed a little nick on one of the rockers and there's definitely some wear on top of the valve stems. How bad is that?

Also pulled two of the lifters out of their bores and the bottoms didn't show any wear.

 

[65barracudaLA]

Also looked at the rockers. Notches are both on the left here. As far as I figured out, you want to go LT RT LT RT LT RT, correct? This appears to be a mixed set?! All the ones marked RT were on the passenger side and all the ones market LT were on the drivers side. And then there are some that have a slightly wider shape. The right ones are marked with a P in a triangle and then F10. The left ones don't really have a mark on them.

Would it make sense to move the LT and RT ones on one side and the other ones to the other?

 

[junkyardhero]

well, that certainly doesn't look great. besides the scuffing and galling on those stems it looks like the rockers have some pretty good divots.